{"id":82,"date":"2016-05-27T17:07:40","date_gmt":"2016-05-27T17:07:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.solitairerose.com\/?p=82"},"modified":"2016-05-27T17:07:40","modified_gmt":"2016-05-27T17:07:40","slug":"dc-rebirth-a-meta-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.solitairerose.com\/?p=82","title":{"rendered":"DC Rebirth: A Meta-Review"},"content":{"rendered":"

DC Rebirth was a good comic and I enjoyed it. It hit all of the warm fuzzy moments I wanted to see, pointed out why I quit reading DC in the months after the New52 and has me interested in where they are going. In that regard, it worked, and everything else I am about to write is really stuff that doesn\u2019t much matter if they follow through on the promise of this story. Much like when Johns wrote Green lantern Rebirth, it made me happy. It was like when an old friend shows back up in your life.<\/p>\n

I missed the DCU.<\/p>\n

Even during the 90\u2019s, and some truly terrible comic runs, I had a fondness for that universe, and people like Mark Waid kept it from getting completely \u201cgrim and gritty\u201d. Then, with the New52, I drifted away as the characters just didn\u2019t interest me any more. DC was run by a bunch of 90\u2019s Marvel editors, and the books read like 90\u2019s Marvel comics and my feeling at the time was, \u201cWell, they just aren\u2019t for me anymore. That\u2019s OK.\u201d<\/p>\n

But now, Wally West coming back seems like the moment in Green Lantern Rebirth when Hal Jordan came back.<\/p>\n

Now, let\u2019s talk about the Meta-problems.<\/p>\n

First \u2013 Using the Watchmen characters as the plot device bothers me, just as much as the Before Watchmen books that now gather dust in bargain bins. The characters weren\u2019t created to have a life beyond their novel. Much like how I don\u2019t want to see spin-offs and prequels to Citizen Kane or Casablanca, some stories just aren\u2019t made to be franchises.\u00a0 Besides, do we want to see Batman and The Comedian Tracking down a team-up between Joker and Moloch?<\/p>\n

Second \u2013 At the time Watchmen came out, both DC and Alan Moore touted it was the most creator rights friendly contract ever written, and a year after the comic went out of print, it would revert to Moore. We can argue about the merits of the contract, as Moore was thinking it would be like other comics where it was published, maybe a collection came out and it went out of print and no one knew it would stay in print for 30 years. But DC deciding \u201cScrew it, let\u2019s use the characters in a big super-hero punching story\u201d should continue the exodus of creators to working on the stuff they own and control themselves.<\/p>\n

Third \u2013 The blame that darkness in superhero comics of the last 30 years, and how it overwhelmed the books at DC on Watchmen is bullshit.<\/p>\n

Let me repeat that. It. Is. Bullshit.<\/p>\n

Yes, Watchmen was influential. Yes, it kicked up the expectations of comic creators beyond the \u201cgive me 15 pages of fights and 3 pages of soap opera\u201d. Yes, it showed there was an audience for mature storytelling. But Watchmen wasn\u2019t a \u201cLet\u2019s do super-heroes who kill!\u201d book, it was a SF story based off of the premise that what happens in a world where super-heroes exist. The scientific advancements, the complex legal and political issues all of it tied in. It wasn\u2019t just \u201cThey kill people.\u201d<\/p>\n

I call Bullshit.<\/p>\n

Especially from a writer who wrote stories where people routinely got their heads punched off for shock effect.<\/p>\n

The reason comics got dark is because writers didn\u2019t understand what was being done in mature comics. They didn\u2019t understand that the Mature aspect of Mike Grell\u2019s Green Arrow wasn\u2019t the sex and violence, it was the realism of a man shooting actual arrows, a complicated love life and dealing with middle age. The mature aspect of Hawkworld by Tim Truman wasn\u2019t the blood, but the politics and prejudice of Thanagar.<\/p>\n

You want to blame someone? Easy, blame the editors who wanted the books to be dark, serious and grim. Blame the writers who didn\u2019t know how to inject drama into a story. Blame the artists who gave that blood and grimaces and didn\u2019t allow for a smile or sunshine.<\/p>\n

It isn\u2019t hard to do comics that are hopeful and bright. You just have to hire creators who will do them and get out of their way. There are a LOT of stories that deliver thrills, suspense, action and the like without it feeling like you\u2019ve been dropped into a mine shaft of darkness surrounded by nightmares.<\/p>\n

How about doing it?<\/p>\n

I\u2019ll loan you some Mark Waid Flash trades so you can get a couple of examples from a time when everyone wanted to write like Alan Moore.\u00a0 I can also give you some copies of Saga, Squirrel Girl, Secret Wars (the new one), and an avalanche of Jack Kirby books.\u00a0 Hell, read some Carl Barks Uncle Scrooge comics.<\/p>\n

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DC Rebirth was a good comic and I enjoyed it. It hit all of the warm fuzzy moments I wanted to see, pointed out why I quit reading DC in the months after the New52 and has me interested in where they are going. In that regard, it worked, and everything else I am about […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-82","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-comic-books"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.solitairerose.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.solitairerose.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.solitairerose.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.solitairerose.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.solitairerose.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=82"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blog.solitairerose.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":83,"href":"https:\/\/blog.solitairerose.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82\/revisions\/83"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.solitairerose.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=82"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.solitairerose.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=82"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.solitairerose.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=82"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}